Sridhar Seetharaman's
Chord Tutorial
Lesson 2 : Circle of Fifths and Fried Chicken
At the end of this lesson, you will be able to:
Reader writes:
Sridhar, when I followed the order you gave for tracing the scales, I saw an interesting thing! You have chosen 5th note in sequence as the next in order. When I traced the scales in that particular order, I saw a beautiful pattern:
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Sridhar:
You are absolutely right! If you would draw a circle and starting at the top make points based on what you have told above with all the keys, you would arrive at the "Circle of fifths".
Any book on Western music fundamentals would have this circle which explains the diatonic scales. These keys are 3 1/2 steps apart. This is very important to remember.
From above, we realize that the number of sharps keep increasing as we go down the circle for the above mentioned keys (C, G, D, A, E, B, F#, C#).
The scale of "C" - no sharps. The scale of "G" - F# The scale of "D" - F# C# The scale of "A" - F# C# G# The scale of "E" - F# C# G# D# The scale of "B" - F# C# G# D# A# The scale of "F#" - F# C# G# D# A# E# The scale of "C#" - F# C# G# D# A# E# B#
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Please note that last sharp note is always half step lower than the key. i.e, in the scale "D", C# is the last sharp. It is extremely important to know the order of the sharps. This makes it easier to form a scale, if somebody tells you only the key. If you know understand staff notation, this is called key signature. Let me give a traditional method to memorize the sharps in the right order.
Fried Chicken Goes Down Awfully Easy Baby
If you understand diatonic scales, all that means is that, from a given note, you form seven notes without repeating any alphabet. i.e, if somebody tells you, the song is in the key of "D", you know that the scale should like "D E F G A B C D". But you don't know what notes need to be sharpened or flattened to satisfy the interval rules. This is known as key signature. One way is to apply rules for each alphabet. But now we are experts, we want a faster method.
Well, the easiest way is to go from the key. Let us try out an exercise.
Exercise
Well, half step before "D" would be "C#". Now cry out loud the "Fried.. " until you get to C#, which is Chicken.
"Fried Chicken Go...". Well, that is it. F# and C#. Now let us write the "D" scale:
D E F# G A B C# D
Now let us try one more. Give me the scale of F#.
Done?
Answer:
The scale should be
F# G A B C D E F#.
We do not know yet what the other sharps are. Well, half step before "F#" would be "E#". Remember "E#" is a enharmonic note of "F". You can not call it "F" because there is already an "F" in the scale which is "F#". Now cry out loud the "Fried" until you get to E#, which is Easy.
"Fried Chicken Goes Down Awfully Easy Ba...". Well, that is it!
F#, C#, G#, D#, A#, E#
Now let us write the "F#" scale:
F# G# A# B C# D# E# F#
Now let us try the same for the flat keys , Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Cb.
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The scale of "F" - Bb The scale of "Bb" - Bb Eb The scale of "Eb" - Bb Eb Ab The scale of "Ab" - Bb Eb Ab Db The scale of "Db" - Bb Eb Ab Db Gb The scale of "Gb" - Bb Eb Ab Db Gb Cb The scale of "Cb" - Bb Eb Ab Db Gb Cb Fb
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We realize that the order of flats is "B E A D G C F" which is exact opposite of sharps. You could form a sentence to remember this. It is left as an exercise to find the scale, given a key for the above.
Let us move onto lesson 3.
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Sridhar.
